


From The Other Side

by TheLittleMuse



Category: The Dresden Files - Jim Butcher
Genre: F/M, One-Shot Collection, POV switch
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-09-03
Updated: 2018-06-17
Packaged: 2018-12-23 11:48:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 10
Words: 14,529
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11989191
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheLittleMuse/pseuds/TheLittleMuse
Summary: Some scenes from the Dresden Files seen from the other character's point of view.Chapter 1 - A Kiss in the Hospital (End of Skin Game - Murphy's POV)Chapter 2 - 'That' conversation from Dead Beat about sex holidays and plant watering duties from Murphy's POVChapter 3 - Love Hurts (Short Story - Murphy POV)Chapter 4 - The conversation between Harry and Murphy where Murphy finds out about Maggie (Murphy POV - Changes)Chapter 5 - A Kiss. A Cut. - Susan's death and aftermath, Murphy POVChapter 6 - Harry and Murphy shared two kisses and made one promise for the future in Cold Days. Murphy POV.Chapter 7 - Turn Coat. Harry and Murphy kiss and tell each other that they love each other before Harry leaves for the island. Murphy POV.Chapter 8 - Skin Game. Harry and Murphy talk about Issues, the mission and Murphy tries to get Harry to come home. Murphy POV.Chapter 9 - Confession. Harry and Michael talk about Fallen Angels and murders. Proven Guilty. Michael POV.Chapter 10 - Scars. When escaping from the mind fog Harry has to help Murphy overcome some of the wounds Kravos inflicted. Murphy POV. Summer Knight.





	1. A Kiss in the Hospital

A Kiss in the Hospital (End of Skin Game)

 

Butters left us alone and the atmosphere turned … different. Not tense, just different.

‘You’re going to have to take care of yourself,’ I reminded Harry. He would run himself to the bone if he were left to his own devices. But he knew by now that I would break the rest of his bones to get him to rest, even from my hospital bed. He didn’t need me to tell him. I kept on talking anyway.

‘Over the next few weeks. Rest. Give yourself a chance to heal. Keep the wound on your leg clean. Get to a doctor and get that arm into a proper cast. I know you can’t feel it, but it’s important that-’

Harry kissed me. I normally would’ve punched any man who kissed me without warning or permission like that and I felt myself tensing, pulling back.

Until I wasn’t. I relaxed and – God it was good.

Hadn’t we decided not to do this? There were reasons. I’m sure they were very important. I just couldn’t think of them right now.

I let out an involuntary moan and I felt him give a triumphant little grin. I found myself grinning back.

Murphy and Dresden. We were good at kissing.

Then I wound my good arm around Harry’s neck, pulled him closer and didn’t think about anything else for some time.

When we broke away I leant against Harry, but I almost didn’t want to look at him. It had, for a moment, seemed easy. Now we were _us_ again. Complicated.

‘We do crazy things for love,’ Harry said quietly, taking my hand and curling his fingers around mine. I nearly laughed at the sight; his hand was so much stupidly larger than mine. But I was distracting myself from what he was really saying: It was time to stop pretending what we felt about each other. We had gone to hell and back together, very nearly literally. I had broken a holy sword because I couldn’t stand to see him in pain. Hell, even freaking Nicodemus could see the way we felt about each other. I loved him and I knew he felt the same about me. Had known for a long time.

I swallowed thickly and my cheeks felt hot. I still didn’t look at him. He knew.

‘I want you to rest and get better too,’ he said. ‘We have some things to do.’

‘Like what?’ I asked.

Harry smiled and his eyes glittered, ‘Things I’ve only dreamed about.’

I was distracted by the way his voice suddenly dropped a couple of octaves that it took me a while to get what he was referring to, ‘Oh,’ I breathed and remembered the surreal moment in the middle of all the madness when I’d walked in on Harry clearly having just woken from a sex dream. I’d assumed – well let’s just say I’m not exactly unattractive, but in the supernatural world, you get supernatural beauties, and whilst Dresden wouldn’t hook up with them in real life, a fantasy is a fantasy. ‘That. That was … was me?’

‘That was you,’ he confirmed. ‘Seems fair. It was your bed.’ And I felt so stupidly happy, which I blamed on the morphine, that I wasn’t even angry with Harry for making another one of his stupid jokes.

Harry picked up hand and kissed each one of my fingers. I tried not to shiver. Harry got moves. When had Harry gotten moves? When had he changed from the awkward, lanky PI I sometimes called on, to someone with moves?

‘I’m on so many drugs right now,’ I murmured and, just because I could, I kissed him again. A nurse came in and cleared her throat more than once, but I let her wait. I wasn’t finished with my lanky PI just yet.

The kiss ended and I let out another little laugh. Really, I was on the best drugs. Then I sobered a little, ‘You better go now Dresden,’ I said. ‘They probably want to do more tests. It’d be unfortunate if the hospital exploded.’

Harry nodded, then leant to give me one last kiss on the neck, before turning to whisper in my ear, ‘Just remember, don’t forget about the screaming,’ before turning to jump up and away before I could hit him.

 

…

 

After an interminable amount of tests I was just about ready to sleep when I felt something hard in my pocket. It was (wrapped in some truly disgusting socks) a bundle of diamonds, ‘Oh,’ I breathed. ‘I’m going to kill him.’

Rawlins, who’d been in the room with me, gathering his things to leave for the night, looked at me, ‘Who?’

I startled. I’d forgotten he was there. ‘Harry,’ I said.

‘Really? You seemed to be getting on fine just a moment ago.’

I covered up my blush with a glare and held up the little sock of diamonds ‘Look, he left me some of the diamonds.’ Rawlins simply raised an eyebrow. We’d known each other long enough that that said enough, ‘They’re dirty, Rawlins, they…’ I trailed off, I couldn’t really explain. They had been stolen from the Underworld with the help of a literal Fallen Angel. It was a little dirtier than being smuggled by the Outfit.

Rawlins made a ‘Humph’ sound, and then said, ‘but Harry … got them?’

‘In a manner of speaking,’ I said.

‘And you helped?’ I ground my teeth instead of answering, but Rawlins took that for an answer. ‘So you earned them,’ he said.

‘That’s not the point.’

Rawlins grinned and turned to leave, ‘Doesn’t really matter, he’s not going to take them back. He’s as stubborn as you.’

I sighed. Rawlins was right, besides I was already thinking of all the different things I could do with a bunch of diamonds. It would be nice for the BFS not to have to rely on Marcone or the White Court for money. It wouldn’t be permanent, but a little injection of funds couldn’t hurt.

I was still going to kill Harry, but only after I’d said thank you. Properly.

 


	2. Confusion

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> 'That' conversation from Dead Beat about sex holidays and plant watering duties from Murphy's POV

As I walked away from Harry I found myself more confused than ever. For a moment I had wanted him to … I don’t know. Make some objection to me going. I mean he had, but not in the way I didn’t know I had wanted him to object. Did I want him to make some big cheesy romcom confession and declare I couldn’t go because he loved me? I mean, I didn’t, obviously. One of the things I lov-liked about Harry was that he always respected me, and my decisions. If I told him to back off, he backed off. He kept me informed and didn’t try to ‘keep me safe’ by not telling me anything anymore, or just telling me what to do. At least, anymore. We had had come to respect each other enough for that.

And he just had told me what I was doing was stupid, but it was. Any friend would be concerned. I could admit that. No matter which way I looked at it going on a sex holiday with a _professional assassin_ was a terrible idea. Kincaid should be one of the people I was trying to kill. But the sex was so good.

I guess I was just a fluffy headed girly after all.

But this wasn’t solving the problem at hand. Harry Dresden. Harry Fucking Dresden. And fucking Harry Dresden.

I couldn’t do this again. Everyone thought that dating Rich would be a great idea because he was my best friend and he and I were in the same line of work. Shared the same madness. And look how that turned out. I didn’t want that to happen to Harry and me. We were great friends, but a great friendship could turn into a terrible relationship, and there were things I didn’t know, would Harry want kids? Was he still hung up on Susan?

Dammit, _stop it_. I didn’t even know if Harry was actually interested. Well, Thomas had told me practically everyday that Harry was interested but I didn’t really consider him a reliable source. He might be close to Harry, but the likelihood that Harry had actually confided in him was less than zero and despite what Thomas said, I didn’t regard him as an expert on romance. The nudges Mouse had been giving me, on the other hand…

That dog was intelligent. I still wasn’t sure to what degree. Whether he was a good romance detector remained to be seen.

I banged my head on the back of the taxi seat. I couldn’t be thinking about this now. At this rate I wouldn’t enjoy my sex holiday.

The driver made professional sympathetic noises and I said something about stress and needing to get away. The driver nodded wisely and said something about Halloween.

Halloween. That triggered something in my memory. Harry always said the barriers between worlds were thinner around Halloween, whatever that meant. God, I hoped I wasn’t abandoning him to whatever weirdness always seemed to happen around him.

_Don’t think like that_ , I told myself sternly _. You don’t have to deal with everything. You deserve a holiday._

I remembered with a jolt that Halloween was also Dresden’s birthday. Not that he ever celebrated it. Maybe I should’ve gotten him something. A first aid kit. Something to replace that stupid revolver he insisted made him look like Indiana Jones. A card.

I sighed. I was never going to be able to relax on this stupid holiday with this explosion of ‘what the hell are my stupid feelings now?’

_Focus on the sex holiday, Murphy. Have good sex. Deal with the feelings later._

 

…

 

‘So … I missed the apocalypse?’

‘I mean, technically not, since by definition the apocalypse is the end of the world and the world is undeniably still here,’ said Butters, then caught the look on my face. ‘I mean … yes. There were zombies, lots of super powered terminator zombies, and Harry rode a zombie T-Rex powered by Polka to fight evil necromancers. Who controlled the zombies.’

I opened my mouth to ask questions. Then closed it. There were too many questions.

I turned to Harry, who seemed to be mostly bandages. He was stubbornly refusing to go to the hospital as usual, and since he was conscious was unfortunately getting the final say. He smiled weakly, ‘I watered the plants,’ he rasped. I glanced around. There were no more plants.

‘Right,’ I said. ‘Great work,’ I sighed and shook my head. ‘I leave you alone for a week and look what happens.’

Dresden gave a half smile, ‘Well, you obviously shouldn’t leave me unsupervised.’

I cocked my head slightly. The words were our usual banter but the tone was more, _Don’t leave me again._

_Dammit, Murphy, Shut it. If you start obsessing over it, it’ll only lead to misery._ That was it. I wouldn’t think about it.

Yeah.

 


	3. Love Hurts

‘Murph … I think we got whammied.’

I blinked, ‘What? No, we didn’t.’

But Harry had that _look_ on his face. That look that said his brain was working double speed and he didn’t like what it was telling him. ‘I think we did,’ he said, his voice dropping a couple of octaves to promise something would go boom in the future if someone (or _thing_ ) had messed with our heads.

But … something hadn’t. I mean … I would know. This had happened to me before. I would know if it happened to me again. I would know, right? I would know. Of course I would know.

‘I didn’t see anything of feel anything. I mean _nothing_ , Harry. I’ve felt magic like that before,’ I said. Somehow I didn’t sound as confident as I meant to.

‘ _Look_ , at us,’ he said, waving our joined hands. They were beautiful.

‘We’ve been friends for a long time, Harry,’ I said. ‘And we’ve had a couple of near misses before. This time we just didn’t screw it up. That’s all that’s happening here.’ Right?

‘What about Kincaid?’

I paused. What _about_ Kincaid? I’d forgotten all about him. I was already in a relationship. That was odd. ‘I doubt he’ll notice I’m gone,’ I said. That was … probably true. We’d never promised we’d be exclusive. Kincaid wouldn’t care. ‘Harry I haven’t been this happy in … I never thought I could feel this way again. About anyone.’

‘I know exactly what you mean,’ he said with a soft smile. But his eyes were sad. ‘I feel the same way.’

I felt my smile stretching. He felt it too. ‘Then what’s the problem? Isn’t that what love is supposed to be like? Effortless?’

_No_ , something deep inside me said. _It was effortless in the movies, but movies were pretty lies. In real life there was an after the happy ending. It was compromise and arguments and mortgages and work. Work that sometimes ended all in flames, but worth it all the same._

‘Murph, think about it,’ Harry said.

‘What do you mean?’

‘You know how good this is?’

‘Yeah?’

‘How right it feels?’ his voice was low and suggestive.

I nodded, ‘Yeah,’ I said, more enthusiastically.

‘How easy it was?’

I nodded again, wondering if he was finally agreeing with me. He leant down, lips brushing my earlobe and his breath whispered against my ear, ‘It just isn’t fucked-up enough to really be you and me.’

My breath caught. Fuck. All the doubts that had been whispering in the background came crashing in, yelling at me all at once. Fuck. Fuckfuckfuckfuck. ‘My God,’ I said. ‘We got whammied.’

I was going to kill something until it was very, very dead.

 

…

 

We kissed frantically, as though if we kept _this_ in us we could ignore the flaming belt behind us. I tangled my hands in Harry’s hair, pulling him down, further into me as the kiss got more frantic and–

It went away.

We both stiffened. We both remembered that we had decided we couldn’t work out. We remembered the maybe somedays, but not yets. I remembered Kincaid. It was true that he wouldn’t care, but I would still know. I wasn’t the kind of person who would cheat even if he probably wouldn’t consider it cheating since our ‘relationship’ probably couldn’t even be considered that. It was more just … sex.

Yeah, stupid, I know.

I stood back, hands held over my stomach. I felt sick.

‘Ready?’ asked Harry quietly. No, I wasn’t ready. Something had invaded my mind again and I hadn’t even noticed. Harry had had to force me to realise and even then I wanted to just _let it._ Oh God. I wanted to claw every single stray romantic thought out of my brain.

Breathe. In. Out. In. Out.

The nightmares would come. And I would deal with them.

Harry’s eyes met mine for a second. He understood. I nodded and we started walking. Neither of us spoke until we reached Harry’s sad excuse of a car.

‘You know what, Harry?’ I said quietly.

‘I know,’ he said. ‘Like you said, love hurts.’

I hadn’t been about to say that, but it didn’t mean it wasn’t true. I got in and we didn’t speak for the rest of the trip back. Harry dropped me off at my house and I headed straight for my emergency stash of white wine and ice cream. It wasn’t wise, but it was going to be a long night.

The nightmares were going to come. I could, and had, handle a lot. More than most mortals, in fact, but stuff that messed with my head? It terrified me.

And on the complete other end of the spectrum I was going to spend a lot of time _not_ thinking about Harry’s lips and hands and the way it felt so good, even after I knew it wasn’t real.

The reasons, those really important reasons we couldn’t be together, seemed to be becoming less important the longer we waited.

I’ll tell you one thing though, if we ever did get together, it won’t be because of some fucked-up curse, and if we ever did, it would be so much better, because if we ever did, it wouldn’t be some weird, movie-style ‘love is perfect’. It would be our own special style of fucked-up.

 

A/N – Fun fact – _Love Hurts_ takes place just before _Changes_. And we all know that at the end of _Changes_ Harry and Murphy agree to a date (only they get … interrupted, because Butcher feeds on our pain.) That little factoid influenced the ending – Murphy considering that maybe it won’t be so long now until she and Harry get together.

 

Also, I only did these two scenes, but can I just point out this bit between Harry and LeBlanc –

“ ‘Do you love this woman?’

‘Yeah,’ I said. ‘But that isn’t anything new.’”

Like, they’re _completely_ ready to admit that they love each other and they’re the most important person in each other’s lives. It’s just … *sniff*


	4. Discovery

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The conversation between Harry and Murphy where Murphy finds out about Maggie (Murphy POV - Changes)

I knocked on Harry’s door. ‘C’mon,’ I muttered under my breath, ‘answer you gormless lump.’ Eventually his security door began to shift open. It stuck halfway. Harry insisted the fact that his door didn’t fit properly was a feature, since if he had trouble opening it, then so would potential bad guys. Sometimes I thought Harry _enjoyed_ being stupidly stubborn.

‘Hiya, Murphy,’ Harry said when he had it open fully. He looked bruised and tired, but very reassuringly _not dead_. I relaxed somewhat.

‘Hey,’ I said, and if my voice came out a little shaky it was entirely Harry’s fault for having his office blow up on him. ‘Do I smell coffee?’

‘Made a fresh pot,’ he said. ‘Get you some?’

I let out a groan. I had forgone my morning cup because _somebody_ had made me worry by having a building fall on top of them. ‘Marry me.’

‘Maybe when you’re conscious.’ Harry stepped back and let me in. I sat down on his couch and Mouse came over and lay his head on my lap. I let out a hiss under my breath. I don’t get on with big dogs ever since the loup-garou incident, but Mouse generally got a pass, but it was morning, I was coffee-less and I’d had a scare. I was jumpy. Mouse looked up at me with those big eyes of his and I started scratching behind his ears.

Do you know if you yank a dog’s front legs in opposite directions it can break its ribs? Do you know my form of stress relief is reciting self-defence techniques? So sue me.

Harry passed me coffee and we allowed the caffeine to work its magic in silence. Eventually the wheels started turning in my head and I started seeing what was right in from of me. His apartment was something other than the organised mess it usually resembled and Harry looked freshly scrubbed. I narrowed my eyes, ‘You showered less than an hour ago. I can still smell the soap. And you just got done cleaning your coat. At four in the morning.’

Harry said nothing and I got a sinking feeling in my stomach.

‘You were at the building when it blew up.’

‘Not _at_ it,’ Harry said. ‘I’m good, but I don’t know about having a building fall on me.’

I shook my head. Semantics. ‘Rawlins called. Told me that your office building had exploded. I thought someone had got to you, finally.’ My voice didn’t shake.

‘We on the record?’ Harry asked.

Oh, great. It was going to be that sort of day. I should say yes. Whip out my little pen and notebook. After all, a building had been blown up and Harry was (at least) a witness, but if I did that Harry wouldn’t say anything and go after whatever was trying to kill him on his own. And I couldn’t let him do that, no matter what the cost.

I shook my head, ‘No. Not yet.’

‘Red Court,’ he said. ‘They bought the building a few years back. They wired it to blow if they wanted to do it.’

I frowned, ‘Why do it now? Why not blow you up years ago?’

Harry grunted (Martian for, _you have a point_ ) then said, ‘Personal grudge, I guess. Duchess Arianna is upset about what happened to her husband when he tangled with me. She thinks it’s my fault.’

‘Is it?’

‘Pretty much.’

I swirled the coffee around the bottom of the cup. ‘So why not just kill you? Click, boom.’

‘I don’t know,’ Harry said. ‘She figured it wasn’t enough, maybe. Click-boom is business. What I have going with her is personal.’

Harry didn’t sound entirely convinced with his theory and I didn’t blame him. Whilst insane thousand-year-old vampires might not exactly use the same reasoning as normal people, in my experience, if supernatural nasties wanted you dead, they used the easiest route.

It sounded like something else was going on, and we couldn’t see it. That was worrying.

I sighed; it was no good speculating without information.

‘Personal?’ I said, and looked around the room again. ‘Your place looks too nice. Who was it?’

A muscle twitched. ‘Susan.’

My back straightened unconsciously. The last time Susan had shown up Denarians had followed. But that wasn’t what my stupid brain was worrying about. When Susan had gotten half-vampired Harry had nearly killed himself trying to find the cure.

‘You want to talk about it?’ I asked carefully.

He told me in sentences of about three of four words. By the time he’d finished I’d forgotten my coffee on the table. He was lucky I hadn’t dropped it on his rug.

A kid. A daughter. Named Maggie. _Fuck_.

‘Jesus and Mary, Mother of God. _Harry_.’

‘Yeah,’ he croaked.

‘That … that _bitch._ ’

Harry shook his head, ‘Pointing fingers does nothing for Maggie. We’ll do that later.’

I grimaced. I wanted to disagree. What kind of screwed up bitch hid a kid from her own Dad? But for once Harry was the voice of reason (and that probably meant the apocalypse was near) but once this was over me and Susan were gonna have _words_.

I don’t care what her excuse was. I could see how much it had hurt Harry.

I nodded sharply. ‘You’re right.’

‘Thank you,’ he said with a heavy sort of exhaustion.

‘What are you going to do?’ I asked.

‘Martin and Susan are seeing what they can get off the disk,’ he said. ‘They’ll contact me as soon as they know something. Meantime I’ll get a couple hours horizontal, then start hitting my contacts. Go to the Council and ask them for help.’

‘That bunch of heartless, gutless, spineless old pricks,’ I said. What, me? Bitter? Nah.

Harry smiled into his coffee.

‘Are they going to give it to you?’ I asked, feeling like I already knew the answer. Harry would only go to they Council if he were desperate; still it was a desperate situation and pigs did occasionally fly. Though he did have a few friends on the Council these days.

‘Maybe. It’s complicated,’ he said. ‘Are _you_ going to get CPD to help me?’

I ran through every string I still had yet to pull in my head. It took a depressingly short amount of time. ‘Maybe. It’s complicated.’

Harry spread his hands in a “there you are” gesture and I nodded. I rose and put my cup in the sink. ‘What can I do to help?’

‘Be nice if the police didn’t lock me up for a while. They’ll realize that the explosives were around my office eventually.’

I shook my head. Trying to nudge someone off the suspect list would probably put me on it, especially since I had lost a lot of my clout, ‘No promises,’ I said. ‘I’ll do what I can.’

‘Thank you.’

‘I want in. You’re both too involved in this. You’ll need someone with perspective.’

Harry’s jaw clenched to the point I would probably hear creaking if I were close to him. His eyes flashed and he turned before he could lose his temper and washed his coffee mug methodically. I refrained from making any stupid comment about him just proving my point and waited. Harry slowly relaxed and he gave me a small smile.

‘I would have asked you anyway, Murph. I need a good gun hand.’

‘Harry…’ I said uneasily. I’m a cop. Despite the fact I had just asked to be involved I have certain limits and we were sailing past them.

Harry waved a hand, ‘I won’t ask you to break any of Chicago’s laws. Or U.S. laws. But I doubt we’re going to be in town for this one.’

I was definitely going to get in trouble for this. If we even survived it. I stared at the fire.

‘I’m your friend Harry,’ I said quietly.

‘Never had a doubt.’

‘You’re going to take Maggie back.’

‘Damn right I am.’

‘Okay,’ I said. ‘I’m in.’

Harry bowed his head and I saw tears form in his eyes, ‘Th-’ he began. His voice broke. ‘Thank you, Karrin.’

The display shook me slightly. Harry was an emotional guy, but he very rarely allowed any kind of vulnerability to show. What must it be like to have a kid, to care so much for a kid you had never even met? When you only had a name and a picture? It worried me. Harry was investing everything.

I stepped forward and took Harry’s hand in mine and squeezed it gently, ‘We _will_ get her back,’ I said quietly, not sure how much of the reassurance was for me as it was for Harry. ‘We _will,_ Harry. I’m in.’

And then I was going to have those words with Susan. You don’t fuck with my friend and get away with it.


	5. A Kiss. A Cut

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Susan's death and aftermath, Murphy POV

‘Sanya and I will stay here,’ I said, panting. ‘We’ll hold them until you get Maggie.’

I wanted to follow Harry. I wanted to follow Harry possibly more than I had wanted anything in my entire life. I was pretty sure we were all going to die here and if we were going to die I wanted-

It sounded stupid and childish.

I wanted to die by his side.

But there was a chance, a chance in a million that he would pull off one of his impossible tricks.

Perhaps Sanya and I would die whilst he rescued Maggie. Harry looked at me, hopeless and desperate. He knew. If I died he would hold it on his shoulders.

Idiot. He had too much on his shoulders already.

He turned and went. I nodded to Sanya and we readied ourselves. There wasn’t anything else to say.

 

…

 

One moment I was fighting, although honestly my moves had fallen from practiced motions to wild swings. My muscles were burning, I was tired beyond belief, my vision was swimming and it was only the last scraps of adrenaline and desperation that kept my legs from buckling beneath me. And, perhaps, some of the magic contained in the Sword, although it seemed as though even that was fading.

I yelled, though I wasn’t quite sure of the words and then … nothing. There was a ringing emptiness in my head (I was told later that this was some kind of psychic blast. It helped me understand what had happened to Molly. After all, if I felt it, what must have if felt like to Molly, an empath?)

I clambered up to the temple, slipping in the blood, climbed over bodies. Some were dust, some were suddenly impossibly old, and some were still young and fresh. I avoided their eyes.

It wasn’t like I felt sorry for them. They were vampires, and I had just been fighting them, but…

Something had killed them. Something had struck them down like they were nothing more than ants. Something I was fairly sure was my friend, but that didn’t help the little shiver that danced along my spine. In fact…

I kept climbing until I reached the top.

Harry was there. He was sat on the ground and had Maggie cradled in his arms, wrapped in a feather coat. But there was a curiously blank look in his eyes.

‘Harry?’ I said gently.

Nothing.

‘Harry,’ I said again, more forcefully.

Still nothing.

Oh. Oh fuck.

I didn’t touch him, even if everything in me was screaming out to just shake him awake. He was a veteran of too many nasty fights for that to be a safe idea. Even if he … wasn’t reacting at the moment.

I almost dropped to the ground; losing what remaining energy I had in a moment. After everything, after surviving, after _winning_ , if-

‘Is he gone?’ said Sanya from behind me.

‘No,’ I growled. ‘He’s fine. Just … a moment. Give him a moment.’

‘Aye, he’ll be fine,’ said a voice. I turned, raising my gun instinctively.

Ebenezer looked back at me evenly until I lowered my gun.

‘What’s wrong with him?’

Ebenezer explained. I saw Susan lying on the altar, her neck cut. She was still bleeding. The human body has more blood than people tend to realise and Harry – God – had made a good cut, deep and sure.

She wouldn’t bleed for much longer though. Her heart was no longer pumping blood around her body, so it would begin to coagulate soon.

It’s funny, the things you learn as a police officer.

It was probably a sign of how messed up I am that the only thing I could think was, _That little girl better be worth it_. She had cost Harry his soul and probably his sanity after being forced to kill Susan, so she better be the Hallmark Card standard of kids.

‘I’ll look after Harry, you go check on your friends,’ said Ebenezer gently. I wanted to protest, and probably would’ve if I’d had any energy left, but Ebenezer was a wizard (one several shades stronger than Harry, at that) and Harry’s former (not evil) mentor. If there was any wizardly healing that needed to be done in private, then I wasn’t about to protest.

‘C’mon,’ I said to Sanya.

‘You trust him?’ asked Sanya.

‘Harry does,’ I said. ‘And he has just helped us out. Little late, but better than never.’

Sanya smiled slightly, then said to Ebenezer in his even, friendly voice, ‘If you hurt my friend, I will kill you.’

‘I wouldn’t dream of it, Sir Knight,’ said Ebenezer with a nod.

‘Seconded,’ I said. ‘C’mon, the old man’s right. There’s still work to do.’

 

…

 

More than anything I wanted to sleep (or scream, or cry) but there were people to organise and helicopters and fucking Lara.

God, I hate the White Court. Thomas excepted. Most of the time.

I worked, worked to stop myself dropping with exhaustion or going mad. Worked simply because, despite the fact the enemy was defeated, the mission was not yet done.

I kept moving until I felt a small nudge in my mind. _He’s awake._ I almost jumped out of my skull.

I don’t like mind tricks.

It didn’t take me long to figure out it was Ebenezer. I turned and walked back to temple where I found Harry thankfully back to (mostly) his old self.

‘Hey,’ I said, like I was talking to a spooked horse. ‘You back?’

‘I guess I am,’ Harry said.

‘Sanya was worried,’ I said lightly.

‘Oh,’ Harry said. ‘Well. Tell him not to worry. I’m still here.’

See, this is partly the macho code of never showing your feelings ever and partly my deep emotional scars and fear of emotional vulnerability, which lead us to a situation where we both knew I was talking about me, but we both pretended I was talking about Sanya, just, because.

It’s all so very fucked up.

I nodded and stepped closer, though slowly, still treating him like a spooked horse, ‘So this is her?’ I asked.

He looked down and nodded, seemingly overwhelmed at the sight of the little girl in his arms.

‘She’s beautiful,’ I said. ‘Like her mother.’

She wasn’t. At least, not then. She was bruised and bloody and dirty. Her hair was matted and her clothes were torn.

It was a useless sentiment, something that came from dealing with too many situations like this, saying the same useless things over and over again.

Although, it had to be said, despite everything, she did look good in Harry’s arms, like she had found the one comfortable place in all this mess.

Harry nodded and rolled an obviously aching shoulder, ‘She is.’

‘Do you want somebody else to take her for a minute?’

Harry’s eyes widened and his arms tightened on Maggie, as he turned away from me slightly, the spooked horse coming back in full.

‘Okay,’ I said in a soothing voice, raising my hands. ‘Okay.’

Harry seemed to go through a number of emotions at once, all of them distressing, then looked at me.

‘Karrin,’ Harry said, his voice rougher than it was before. ‘I’m tired.’ The world of pain in those words broke me slightly. But he needed me to be the strong one.

He didn’t take his eyes of Maggie as he whispered, ‘Will you do me a favour?’

‘Yes,’ I said.

‘Please take her to Father Forthill when we get b-back,’ he said. ‘T-tell him that she needs to disappear. The safest place he has. That I…’ His voice failed. He took deep shaky breaths before he continued, ‘And I don’t need to know where. T-tell him that from me.’

He turned from Maggie to me, looked me not-quite in the eyes and said, ‘Please?’

I wanted to shout at him, yell at him, that this was the stupidest idea he had ever had. He couldn’t send Maggie away, not after he had just found her.

On the other hand, I knew the mood Harry would be in. He was a stubborn, self-hating ass. If I wanted to convince him, I would have to wait until he was out of this dark place he had gotten himself into. I would have to drag him out kicking and screaming if needs be, but right now I couldn’t change his mind. There would be time.

On the other, _other_ hand Harry had said please. I could count on one hand every time I’d heard Harry say please. He wanted his little girl safe and he truly believed this was the way. I mean, it was stupid, but there were some things you couldn’t refuse a friend. I could wait.

‘Yes.’

 

 

……

 

A/N - A little note on the continuity. In the book it’s the Lenandsidhe beside Harry when he wakes up, then Ebenezer comes along and tells her to shoo so they can have a little chat, but I thought,

  1. A) Murphy definitely knows Harry’s state of mind when she sees him
  2. B) Can you really imagine Murphy not rushing to check on Harry after the fighting’s done?
  3. C) I couldn’t imagine Murphy ever leaving Harry alone with Lea, especially when he’s so vulnerable.



So I changed it to Ebenezer. She’s still not happy about leaving him, but at least it’s not with a psycho death faerie.

 

Also, I’m not okay after writing this. _I’m not okay_.

 


	6. Two Kisses and a Promise

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Harry and Murphy shared two kisses and made one promise for the future in Cold Days. Murphy POV.

Harry leaned in a little, ‘You ready for this?’ he whispered.

I resisted the urge to scream. Or cry. Or possibly spontaneously combust. I glanced back, studiously avoiding looking at the Erlking.

‘Only a lunatic would be ready for this,’ I said. Harry’s eyes danced and I wondered what that made him. Made me.

I kissed him then. A quick, fierce kiss, full of desperation and just a little hope that we might actually make it through this.

‘For luck. _Star Wars_ -style.’

Harry grinned and, knowing Harry, he was just as pleased about the _Star Wars_ reference as he was about the kiss.

‘You are so hot right now,’ he said.

Yeah. Definitely lunatics.

 

…

 

Racing towards an island on a motorbike that was riding rapidly becoming less able to ride on water may not have been the craziest thing I’ve ever done, but it was definitely in the top ten. Perhaps even the top five.

Despite the somewhat wet stop we didn’t crash. And we didn’t go straight into the trees, thanks to my slowing down despite Harry’s objections.

‘See?’ I said.

‘You were right,’ Harry said.

I smiled, ‘You are so hot right now.’ I meant to make a joke, but it got lost. Harry started laughing, the sort of, hiccupping, adrenaline fuelled laughter that came at the point of absolute exhaustion. I joined him, relief and terror all let out in one go in hysterical giggles. For a moment we were alone, and everything was all right.

We each tried to speak, to say something about the day, as if speaking about it would somehow make it seem sane, but we each kept getting choked by more breathless laughter.

‘Grenades,’ Harry said. ‘As if the date has to have–’

‘…look on Molly’s face…’

‘…know he’s a dog but I swear that…’

‘Santa Claus smackdown!’ I gasped finally, and it sent us into more gales of laughter that had no wind to support them. Finally we were just sitting in the sand, my back against his chest, wet and cold and comfortable. Harry had a way of not making me feel so stupidly tiny, which must be some kind of witchcraft since he was so unnaturally large. We sat there for a few minutes in the darkness and were, for once, just still. Possibly we were being overcome by hypothermia. Or I was, since he was the Winter Knight and I’m not sure that was possible anymore.

I turned and noticed just how close his mouth was to mine. He really didn’t seem to mind the proximity. We sat like that for a second, both waiting for the other to make that crucial first move, and then–

Harry saw the burning barge. The one that was supposed to have been sunk, teeming with Outsiders and moving towards us.

I cursed whatever higher power I had apparently pissed off.

‘Oh stars and stones,’ Harry breathed. ‘If they get that boat to the shore…’

‘The Harley can’t get us there,’ I said. ‘Not through this terrain and brush.’

‘You can’t keep up with me here,’ Harry said. He sounded reluctant to say it, but somebody had to.

I gritted my teeth. I didn’t want to suggest it – there was a _reason_ the first rule of surviving a horror movie was Don’t Split Up, especially if the other guy is the wizard. But Harry was right. Neither of us liked it, but I couldn’t keep up.

I nodded, ‘Go. I’ll come as fast as I can.’

Harry paused. We were still sitting impossibly close to one another. He slid a hand behind my head, leant down and kissed me. I kissed back instinctively, the _something_ we’d been teetering on the edge of coming out in all its bruising intensity. The kiss lasted a few heartbeats before we drew apart. Harry’s eyes were dark and full of promise.

‘I’m not going anywhere,’ he said, before sprinting off towards the stretch of shore at which Sharkface had pointed the last barge.

‘What the fuck?’ I said, staring at Harry’s rapidly retreating back. ‘Not going anywhere … after you run off to stop the Outsiders?’ I shrugged. Things to do, world to save. Again. I could deal with Harry later.

 

…

 

‘So,’ Harry said.

‘So,’ I said.

‘Um. We should talk?’

‘About what?’ I said, although I was being deliberately stupid. I had more than an inkling what he wanted to talk about.

Mouse looked back and forth between us and started wagging his tail hopefully.

‘Quiet you,’ Harry said and rubbed Mouse’s ears. ‘Bad guy made of _bones_ and he gets the drop on you? Charity giving you too many treats or something? That fight should have been like Scooby-Doo versus the Scooby-Snack Ghost.’

Mouse grinned happily, completely unfazed.

‘Don’t be so hard on him,’ I said. ‘There’s always someone bigger,’ I shook my head. I was being stupid, ‘Wow, we are such children. We’ll grab at any excuse not to talk about us right now.’

‘Um. Yeah,’ he swallowed audibly. ‘We … we kissed.’ I had to admit, he was cute when he was flustered.

Shut up. This required clear, focused thinking. Right.

‘There’s a song about what that means’ I said.

‘Yeah, but I don’t sing.’

And then I began to work it through. Did I want to fuck Dresden? Based on that kiss, _Oh Yeah._ Did I love him? I couldn’t really deny it now. Did he love me? Yeah, the idiot.

Did I want a relationship with him? I felt a sick churning in my gut. I wanted to say it was just my insecurities coming to bite me.

But…

‘There are factors,’ I said carefully.

‘Like Kincaid,’ Harry said without jealousy or resentment. That was a step forward, I guess.

‘He’s not one of them,’ I said. ‘Not anymore.’

‘Oh.’

I took a deep breath, ‘It’s you, Harry.’

‘Pretty sure I’m supposed to be a factor,’ Harry said, although his voice didn’t quite have the same tone as he normally did when he was making jokes.

‘Yeah,’ I said, drawing out the word. ‘Just … not against.’ I took Harry’s hands in mine and gathered my thoughts. ‘I’ve seen things in you over the past day that … concern me.’

‘Concern you.’

‘They scare the holy loving fuck out of me,’ I said with a shiver. ‘This Winter Knight thing. You’re not changing. You’ve already changed.’

‘What do you mean?’ Harry asked, his voice breaking slightly, ‘Tonight? Hell, Karrin, when haven’t we done monsters and mayhem?’

‘We’ve done it a lot,’ I said, struggling to keep my voice the same even tone. ‘But you’ve always been scared of it before. You did it anyway, but you thought it was scary. That’s the sane thing to think.’

‘So,’ Harry asked. ‘What was different about tonight?’

‘The way your erection kept pressing into my back,’ I said.

Harry blinked a couple of times, ‘Uh,’ he said. ‘Really?’

‘Yeah, a woman kind of notices.’

Harry processed that and said, ‘It’s just … Karrin, look, that thing hardly ever does something that isn’t ill-advised. Doesn’t mean it’s going to make the calls.’

‘I will never understand why men do that,’ I said, a little frustrated.

‘Do what?’

‘Talk about their genitals like they’re some other creature. Some kind of mind-controlling parasite.’ I shook my head. ‘It’s just you Harry. And part of you was really loving everything that was going on.’

‘And that’s bad?’

‘Yes,’ I growled, and tried to get my scrambled thoughts together. ‘No. Maybe. It’s a _change_.’

‘Do changes have to be bad?’ Harry sounded lost. I sympathised.

‘Of course not. But I don’t know if this one is bad or not yet,’ I said. ‘Harry … you are the strongest man I know in more than one sense of the word. And because you are … it means that if you _do_ change…’

‘You think I’d be some kind of monster.’

Harry sounded heartbroken and my heart shattered with it. The last thing I’d ever wanted to do was break his heart, but because we were having _this_ conversation _now…_ Harry had always been scared of becoming a monster and he’d always been the furthest thing from a monster I knew, but right then he had the potential to become exactly what he feared. And it scared the living fuck out of me.

I squeezed his hands tighter, ‘I’m not saying this right,’ I said, my frustration pouring out. ‘It’s not coming out right. But I _felt_ you, when we were with the Hunt. I knew what was driving you, what you were feeling. And in the moment, I was down with it – and that scares me too.’

'So am I too much of a monster or are you?’ he asked. ‘I’m getting confused.’

‘Join the club,’ I sighed.

‘You’re saying that the problem is, you think I could go bad,’ he said carefully.

‘I _know_ you could. Anyone can. And you’ve got more opportunity than most. And maybe you shouldn’t rocking your emotional boat right now. When Susan broke your heart, right after she changed? You went into a downward spiral. If that happened now, with the kinds of things you’re facing … Harry, I’m afraid you might not be able to pull out of it.’

‘You aren’t wrong. But we haven’t even gone on one date yet and you’ve already skipped ahead to the ugly break up?’

‘There are factors.’ I repeated.

‘Like what?’

‘Like this thing with Molly,’ I said.

‘There’s no thing with Molly. There’s never going to be a thing with Molly,’ he said firmly.

‘You’re a wizard. She’s a wizard. Now you’re the Winter Knight. And she’s the Winter Lady.’

‘Karrin,’ he began.

‘And I’m going to get old and die soon,’ I said quickly and quietly. ‘Relatively soon. But you’re going to keep going for centuries. And so is she. The two of you are close – and even if nothing ever happens … it’s one more thing. You know?’

We held hands and stared at the fire.

Dammit. I had hoped to keep all my bubbling insecurities out of this, but it was true. I was going to die.

‘Oh,’ said Harry after a minute. I nodded. ‘So there are things stacked against us,’ he said. ‘What else is new?’

‘You’re the captain of disaster in the supernatural world,’ I acknowledged. ‘But I’m the one who has repeatedly taken relationships into icebergs. I’ve done it enough to know that you and I are the _Titanic.’_

And again with the not bringing my insecurities into things. But it was also true.

‘We’re people,’ Harry said. ‘Not some fucking ship.’

‘We’re also people. A kiss when we’re both ramped up on adrenaline is one thing. A relationship is harder. A lot harder.’ I shook my head. ‘If it ends in tears I’m afraid it could destroy us both. And there’s a lot on the line right now. I don’t think this is something we should rush into. I need time to think. To … I just need time.’

‘Is this where you tell me we need to be friends?’ he asked softly.

I blinked and looked up at him. I touched his face with my fingers, pulling him slightly towards me. I wished, desperately, that I could look him fully in the eyes, but I didn’t think it was safe to risk a soulgaze right now and part of me was glad for that small barrier between us. It was already too raw.

‘Harry, we’re … We went past that a long time ago. I don’t know if we can, if we should be lovers. But I’m your friend. Your ally. I’ve seen what you want and what you’re willing to sacrifice to make it happen.’ My voice started to shake, ‘I feel lost since they fired me. I don’t know what I’m meant to do or who I ought to be. But what I do know is that I’ve got your back. Always.’ I started to cry. ‘So goddammit, don’t you start taking the highway to Hell. Because I’m going to be right there with you. All the way.’

And maybe that was holding me back. The sheer terror of that fact. Because I had lost him once. I wasn’t going to lose him again.

Harry wrapped his arms around me and we sat like that for a while.

‘Things are going to get bad,’ he said quietly. ‘I don’t know how or when, exactly. But there’s a storm coming. Being near me isn’t going to be … sane.’

‘Let’s just agree that I’m not all the way together, and save us both some time arguing,’ I said. ‘Always, Harry. I’m there. End of story.’

‘Okay,’ he said. ‘One condition.’

‘What?’

‘That’s not the end of the story. I mean, maybe neither of us is ready. But we could be, one day. And maybe we will be.’

I felt myself smiling, ‘Optimistic idiot.’

‘And if we get to that place,’ he said, gaining energy, ‘you don’t chicken out. You don’t run away, no matter how it looks to you. We set course for the fucking iceberg, full speed ahead.’

I started shaking slightly with either laughter or tears, I wasn’t sure which.

‘And the sex,’ he said. ‘It will be frequent. Possibly violent. You’ll be screaming. Neighbours will make phone calls.’

I was properly laughing now. How was it that Harry could always cheer me up by being such a perfect idiot? _It must be love_ , whispered a little voice.

‘Those are my conditions,’ Harry said cheerfully. ‘Take them or leave them.’

I smiled. Sometimes Harry’s ability to make fun in the direst circumstances was one of the best things about him.

‘You’re such a pig, Dresden,’ I said. ‘Maybe you’ll be the one screaming.’

He didn’t look like he minded.

 

…

 

A/N – Okay, so I almost called this one _There will be screaming_ , which just goes to show you my sense of humour.


	7. A Good Time Not To Die

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Turn Coat. Harry and Murphy kiss and tell each other that they love each other before Harry leaves for the island. Murphy POV.

Harry parked the Rolls in the lot next to the marina. Harry had a plan, if it could be called that, and we were running out of time.

‘Allow me to reiterate that I feel that this is a bad idea,’ I said.

‘So noted,’ Harry said. ‘But will you do it?’

I stared into the impenetrable blackness of Lake Michigan. ‘Yes,’ I said. There really wasn’t any other answer I could give. _You bastard._

‘If there was anything else you could do,’ he said, ‘I’d ask you to do it. I swear.’

‘I know,’ I said, tired. ‘It just pisses me off that there’s nothing more I can add.’

‘Well, if it makes you feel any better, you’re going to be in danger, too. Someone might decide to come by and try to use you against me. And if word gets back to the Council about how much you know, they’re going to blow a gasket.’

I gave a grim smile. What I wouldn’t do to get my hands on some of the Council. And we were working to save one of them, ‘Yes, thank you,’ I said faux cheerfully. ‘I feel less left out now that I know someone might kill me anyway.’ I shifted, settling my gun’s shoulder harness a little more comfortably. ‘I am aware of my limits. That isn’t the same thing as _liking_ them.’ I looked back at Harry. ‘How are you going to reach the others?’

Harry looked apprehensive, ‘I’d … really rather not say. The less you know-’

‘The safer I am?’ I asked sharply. Harry knew how I felt about being left out of the loop.

‘No, actually,’ Harry said. ‘The less you know, the safer _I_ am. Don’t forget we might be dealing with people who can take information out of your head, whether you want to give it or not.’

I folded my arms and shivered. That old chestnut. ‘I hate feeling helpless.’

‘Yeah,’ he said, ‘me too.’ He turned, ‘How’s he doing Molly?’

‘Still asleep,’ Molly reported, ‘I don’t think his fever is any higher, though.’ She reached out and touched Morgan’s forehead with the back of one hand.

Morgan’s arm rose up and sharply slapped her arm away at the wrist, though he never changed the pace of his breathing or otherwise stirred. I’d seen old, paranoid police officers develop similar reflex actions and I guess Morgan was older and more paranoid than any of them.

Harry shook his head, ‘Let’s move, people.’

Harry and Molly wrestled the wounded Warden into his wheelchair. He roused enough to help a little, but never seem conscious of anything, and sagged back into sleep as soon as he was seated. Molly took Harry’s “ritual box” and slung it over her shoulder before pushing Morgan across the parking lot to the marina docks. Harry grabbed a couple of black nylon bags.

‘And what do we have in there?’ I asked.

‘Party favours,’ Harry said.

‘You’re having a party out there?’

Harry stared out over the lake and the feeble attempt at levity withered. ‘Yeah,’ said Harry quietly.

I shook my head, ‘All this over one man.’

‘Over a hero of the Council,’ Harry said. ‘Over the most feared man on the Wardens. Morgan nearly took out the Red King himself – a vampire maybe four thousand years old, surrounded by some disgustingly powerful retainers. If he hadn’t bugged out, Morgan would have killed him.’

‘You almost said something nice about him,’ I said.

‘Not nice,’ he said. ‘But I can acknowledge who he is. Morgan has probably saved more lives than you could count, over the years. And he's killed innocents, too. I'm certain of it. He's been the Council's executioner for at least twenty or thirty years. He's obsessive and tactless and ruthless and prejudiced. He hates with a holy passion. He's a big, ugly, vicious attack dog.’

Attack dog was right. As far as I was concerned Morgan wasn’t a cop. Cops didn’t murder innocent children on the off chance they might be warlocks, and Harry might have reached some kind of equanimity with what Morgan had done to him, but that didn’t mean it hadn’t happened.

‘But he’s your attack dog,’ I said.

‘He’s our attack dog,’ Harry echoed. ‘He’d give his life without hesitation if he thought it was necessary.’

I watched Molly slowly push Morgan down to the dock. ‘God. It's got to be awful, to know that you're capable of disregarding life so completely. Someone else's, yours, doesn't really matter which. To know that you're so readily capable of taking everything away from a human being. That's got to eat away at him.’

‘For so long there’s not a lot left,’ Harry said and I nodded. Morgan was not much except a man with a Cause. ‘I think you’re right about the killer acting in desperation. This situation got way too confused and complicated for it to be a scheme. It’s just … a big confluence of all kinds of chickens coming home to roost.’

‘Maybe that will make it simpler to resolve,’ I said with the kind of optimism that got people killed.

‘World War One was kind of the same deal,’ he said. ‘But then, it was hard to point at any one person and say, “That guy did it.” World War Two was simpler, that way.’

‘You’ve been operating under the assumption that there is someone to blame,’ I said.

‘Only if I can catch him,’ he shook his head. ‘If I can’t … well,’ _I die_. My stomach drove off the edge of a cliff.

I turned to Harry, examined his face, his eyes, his mouth. I reached up with both hands, put them on the sides of his head, pulled him down a little and placed a kiss on his forehead and his mouth. Not a romantic kiss, just a kiss to say what neither of us could say out loud. I let him go and looked up at him, ‘You know that I love you, Harry. You’re a good man. A good friend.’

Harry gave me a lopsided smile. ‘Don’t go all gushy on me, Murph.’

I shook my head, ‘I’m serious. Don’t get yourself killed. Kick whatsoever ass you need to in order to make that happen.’ I looked down. _Don’t cry._ ‘My world would be a scarier place without you in it.’

Harry chewed his lip. _Great, you made it awkward._ But it needed saying. For once, it needed saying. Especially since-

No. Nobody’s dying.

‘I’d rather have you covering my back than anyone in the world, Karrin.’ Harry cleared his throat. ‘You might be the best friend I’ve ever had.’

I blinked several times and shook my head, ‘Okay,’ I said a little sniffily. ‘This is going somewhere awkward.’

‘Maybe we should take it from “whatsoever ass,”’ Harry suggested.

I nodded. Kicking ass, I could do that. ‘Find him. Kick his ass.’

‘That is the plan,’ he said. Then he bent down and gently kissed my forehead and my mouth, and leaned his forehead against mine. ‘Love you, too,’ he whispered.

Why did I even put up with him? ‘You jerk.’ I said, my voice curiously tight. ‘Good luck.’

‘You too,’ he said. ‘Keys are in the ignition.’

Harry straightened, hitched up the heavy bags, and stalked towards the docks. He didn’t look back as he walked away, which meant both of us could pretend I wasn’t crying.

I dried my eyes and turned away. There wasn’t any time for tears. There was a job to do.

 

…

 

A/N – For a part when Harry and Murphy actually kiss and exchange ‘I love yous’ somehow one of my favourite parts is when Harry says – ‘I'd rather have you covering my back than anyone in the world, Karrin. You might be the best friend I've ever had.’

Harry has fought besides Holy Knights, Wizards even more powerful than him, and his brother the vampire, and Murphy the normal (badass) human is the person he trusts so completely to always have his back. It’s just (apart from actually saying I love you) such a _them_ way of saying I love you.


	8. The Touch of A Hand

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Skin Game. Harry and Murphy talk about Issues, the mission and Murphy tries to get Harry to come home. Murphy POV.

‘To Mab’s credit,’ I said, ‘she _is_ sort of asking you to do what you’re good at.’

Harry blinked, ‘What is _that_ supposed to mean?’

‘You have a tendency to weasel out of these bargains you get yourself into, Harry.’ I said, ‘You have a history.’

‘Like I shouldn’t fight them?’

‘You probably should focus more on not getting into them in the first place,’ I said, _like that was ever going to happen_ , ‘but that’s just one humble ex-cop’s opinion.’

Harry flashed me a quick smile, the one that said, _yeah, I’m ridiculous, forgive me?_ He looked down at his lap where Mister was purring loudly and his eyes softened, ‘You’ve taken good care of him,’ he said. ‘Thank you.’

‘He’s good company.’ _All right, time for Harry Talking, phase one._ ‘Though I wonder if he wouldn’t like it better with you.’

Harry didn’t answer and continued to stroke Mister. Mister only purred louder. God, that cat could make some noise. He was just as ridiculously oversized as Harry as well. No wonder they got along so well.

‘He might,’ Harry said slowly. ‘I’m … sort of settled now. And there’s nothing on the island big enough to take him. But it’s cold out there in the winter, and he’s getting older.’

_Okay, phase two,_ ‘We’re all getting older,’ I said. Sad fact, mortal bones creak. ‘Besides, look at him,’ Harry did and smiled, a quiet, soft smile as Mister rolled on his back and playfully chewed his fingers. It hit me more than ever that Harry needed this, a relationship that was just _simple_ ; all his other relationships were complicated. Even the two of us, with this stupid, stupid, _thing_ between us, we had become … difficult. But Mister? Mister wanted nothing from Harry but a good bowl of food and lots of tummy rubs. It was … strangely touching.

Maybe I was just getting sentimental in my old age. Maybe I had missed Harry more than I realised and it had affected my mind.

‘Yeah,’ said Harry. ‘He’s kinda my buddy, isn’t he?’

_Okay, breakthrough number one._ I reminded myself to go slow, as much as I wanted to drag him back home; he was like a spooked horse right now.

‘Of course,’ I said, ‘you could do it the other way too.’

‘What do you mean?’

_Go slow. Do not hit him over the head for idiocy._ ‘You could live here,’ I said. Then added a beat too quickly, ‘In Chicago. You could, you know. Move back to town.’ _Yup. Completely casual. Way to go, Murphy._

‘I don’t … Look, when the next freak burns down my place, maybe I won’t get as lucky as I did last time,’ he said.

‘Last time you ended up with a broken back and working for a monster,’ I said. _Not to mention dead,_ I thought, but I couldn’t say it out loud.

‘Exactly,’ said Harry, as if I had just proved his point. ‘And it was only because of literal divine intervention that none of my neighbours died.’ I shook my head. It might be certifiably insane but it was kind of sweet that he still cared more whether his elderly neighbours had gotten hurt. ‘The island isn’t a kind place,’ he continued, ‘but no one is going to come looking for trouble there.’

‘Except you,’ I said as gently as I could. ‘I worry about what will happen to you if you stay out there alone too long.’

‘It’s necessary,’ he said. ‘It’s safer for me. It’s safer for everyone around me.’

I sighed slightly. Harry was too stuck in his rut to see that he was stuck. He needed a shove, a gentle shove, but still a shove.

‘What a load of crap,’ I said without heat. ‘You’re just scared.’ Normally those kind of words would be a challenge, an impetus to fight. But they weren’t, it was just a simple fact.

‘You’re damned right,’ he said. ‘Scared that some bug-eyed freak is going to come calling and kill innocent people because they happen to be in my havoc radius.’

‘No,’ I said. ‘That isn’t what scares you. You don’t want it to happen and you’ll fight it if it does, but that isn’t what scares you.’

Harry frowned down at Mister and I saw those big, stubborn gears turning in his head, ‘I’m … not really comfortable talking about this,’ he said.

_At least he’s acknowledging a problem_ , I told myself, _time for another little push,_ ‘Get over it,’ I said, even more gently. ‘Harry, when the vampires grabbed Maggie … they kind of dismantled your life. They took away all the familiar things. Your office. Your home. Even that ridiculous old clown car.’

‘The _Blue Beetle_ was not a clown car,’ he said severely. ‘It was a machine of justice.’

I smiled over my tea. It was an argument as old as our friendship and its beats were worn and familiar. Hearing it in the middle of … whatever this was felt comfortable and warm. It also came with a sting of sadness, because the clown car that had somehow survived multiple disasters and near apocalyptic events was dead. And that was the crux of the problem.    

‘You’re a creature of habit, Harry. And they took away all the familiar places and things in your life. They hurt you.’ I paused. Harry had briefly looked _furious._ The same fury that had led him to destroy to destroy a Court of vampires for his little girl. Maybe I was pushing too hard, but Harry needed to see that he was _not okay_. That fury and fear was controlling his actions and it was set to rise just at the _reminder_ of what had happened.

‘So the idea of a fortress, someplace familiar that can’t be taken from you, really appeals to you right now,’ I said. ‘Even if it means you cut yourself off from everyone.’

‘It isn’t like that,’ Harry said, but he didn’t sound at all certain. Progress. ‘And I’m fine,’ because all perfectly fine people have to reassure people that they’re fine. Right.

‘You aren’t fine,’ I said. ‘You’re a long, long way from fine. And you’ve got to know that.’

Harry was silent again, stroking Mister. For a long moment there was only the sound of Mister’s purrs in the room then Harry shook his head slowly, ‘This is … not a good time to get in touch with my feelings.’

Right. Insane job. Winter Knight weirdness. I wanted to accuse him of deflecting but he might have a point when it might not be a good idea to poke at certain things before a job like this.

‘I know it isn’t,’ I said. ‘But it’s the first time in months that I’ve seen you. What if I don’t get another chance?’ I had to work at keeping the desperation out of my voice. What if I didn’t see him again? ‘Agreed there’s business to do. But you’ve got to understand that your friends are worried about you. And that is important too.’

‘My friends,’ Harry snapped. ‘So this is … a community project?’

And there it was. I’d been expecting it sooner. Harry hated pity or any suggestion he couldn’t handle things, and had a few thousand trust issues on top of that. The walls were coming up thick and fast.

I stood up and moved over to his chair. He had a bruise down the side of his face. The only explanation he’d give was “Mab,” so I assumed her ordering him to work with Nicodemus hadn’t gone entirely smoothly. Big surprise. Harry had probably made some grand declaration. I took a breath and brushed his hair back from his eyes, making sure not to bump the bruise.

‘It’s me, Harry.’

His eyes closed and he leaned into my hand. For a moment it was just us, no crazy Winter Queens or Denarians.

_I’m scared,_ I thought, _I’m utterly terrified of losing you again. Please don’t go._ I didn’t say it out loud though. I’d just got him calmed down; I didn’t want his fears riled up. _Yeah, that’s why you can’t say it out loud._

Harry wasn’t the only one with issues.

I stroked Harry’s hair softly. So long as it was the two of us we’d do okay. I wanted to tell him I understood. The BFS owed too much to Marcone and Lara Raith. It wasn’t exactly being magically bound to the embodiment of Winter, but for an ex-cop being bound to Chicago’s premier gangster was pretty bad. We were both falling down rabbit holes and didn’t know how to stop. The only thing we had to hold on to was each other, but Harry was … slipping and me? I had once held onto the badge but the badge was gone.

Part of me, a tiny, guilty part of me, hated Harry for that.

I had always known it was coming in my gut. You can’t fight the battles that the upper levels didn’t know or refused to acknowledge existed without consequences. But I was a cop. If I wasn’t a cop I wasn’t anything.

Sometimes I wished I could go back and change things, but I knew if I had the chance I never would. For better or for worse, I had tied my fate to Harry Dresden. Besides, somebody needed to look after him.

Harry leaned his head into my hand, an unconscious mirror of the cat that was in his lap. I resisted the urge to scratch him under the chin only with the greatest of strength.

‘Okay,’ he said quietly. ‘Okay. This is important, too.’

I took a breath. I wanted to get some sort of guarantee that he’d be moving back home, to Chicago, but I knew this was as much as I’d get out of him at the moment. Besides, he also had a point that this wasn’t the most important problem at the moment.

‘Good,’ I said and moved to the kitchen. I idly started washing up and switched my brain into gear. ‘So. Where did you go after you left the Hard Rock?’

‘Hmm?’ Oh no. _Oh no_. That was his “Whatever could you be talking about?” sound.

‘Um,’ he said. ‘Yeah. About that.’

I came back into the room, one eyebrow raised. Really? The whole, I can’t tell you to protect you shtick _now?_

‘What if I told you that I needed you to trust me?’

I frowned until it hit me, ‘You went digging for information, didn’t you?’

‘Um,’ he said. ‘Let’s just say that until I know more about what I’m up against, I’m playing things a lot closer to my chest than usual.’

‘Tell me you aren’t doing it for my own protection.’

‘You’d kick my ass.’ _Damn right._ ‘I’m doing it for _mine_.’

‘Thank you,’ I said. ‘I think.’

‘Don’t thank me,’ he said. ‘I’m still keeping you in the dark. But I believe it’s absolutely necessary.’

I shivered. I hated fighting in the dark. It was difficult and dangerous and people tended to get hurt. Still … ‘So you need me to trust you.’

‘Yeah.’

Well. That was that. I nodded. ‘Yeah, okay. So what’s the play? I assume you want me to assemble the support team and await developments while you and Thomas go play with the bad guys?’

Harry shook his head. ‘Hell, no. I want you to go in with me.’

What the hell. Literally. I stared at him and wondered if his mind wasn’t even more frazzled than I had originally thought.

‘With you. To rob a Greek God.’

‘Burgle, technically,’ he said. ‘I’m pretty sure if you pull a gun on Hades you deserve whatever happens to you.’

I waved that away. ‘Why me?’ I asked. ‘Thomas is the one with the knives and the superstrength.’

‘I don’t need knives and superstrength,’ he said. ‘What’s the first rule to surviving on the street?’

‘Awareness,’ I replied automatically. ‘It doesn’t matter how badass you are. If you don’t see it coming, you can’t do anything about it.’

‘Exactly,’ Harry said. ‘I need you because you _don’t_ have supernatural abilities. You never have. You’ve never relied on them. I need extra eyes. I need to see things happening, someone to watch my back, to notice details. You’re the detective who could see the supernatural world was real when everyone else was explaining it away. You’ve squared off against the worst and you’re still here. You’ve got the best eyes of anyone I know.’

That … actually made sense. ‘And … you think I’m crazy enough to actually do it,’ I said.

‘I need you,’ he said simply.

Well, that just wasn’t fair.

‘I’ll get my gun.’    

 

…

 

A/N – Hi, I’m back! So who’s excited for _Brief Cases_? More specifically _Zoo Day_ :D


	9. Confession

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Harry and Michael talk about Fallen Angels and murders. Proven Guilty. Michael POV.

A/N – What? Something that _isn’t_ Harry and Murphy? This cannot be, I say, this cannot be:D

 

…

 

‘Harry you’ve avoided me for some time. And you seem … well, somewhat more dour than I’ve seen you before.’

It was only years of practice that kept the worry I was feeling off my face, that kept me from tensing my muscles.

‘I wasn’t avoiding you exactly,’ he said carefully. I stayed silent, allowing him to speak, ‘All right. Yeah. But I’ve been avoiding most everybody. Don’t take it personally.’

‘Is it something I’ve done?’ I asked deliberately lightly. ‘Or perhaps someone in my family?’

‘Enough with the rhetoric. You know it isn’t.’

I hid a wince. Harry didn’t need a Knight of the Cross at the moment, he needed a friend. A friend who understood him. ‘Then maybe it’s something you’ve done. Maybe something you should talk about with a friend.’

Harry was silent for a long while, his hands clenched on the steering wheel, determinedly facing forward. I wondered if I should tell him I already knew about the coin, but no. Although sometimes Harry sometimes needed a nudge, he never responded well to pressure. It was painful. My friend was suffering and I wanted to help.

 _Patience is the key_ , I reminded myself.

‘Last Halloween I killed two people,’ he said softly, almost to himself. I drew a breath. I hadn’t been expecting…

I surprised myself with my immediate reaction. I knew, despite the temptation the coin was undoubtedly presenting him, that if Harry had killed two people, it had been for a good reason.

‘One of them was Cassius. Once he was beaten I had Mouse break his neck. Another was a necromancer called Corpsetaker. I shot her in the back of the head.’ He paused, gathered himself, and continued, ‘I murdered them. I’ve never killed, man … not like that. Cold.’ There was another pause before he said, ‘I have nightmares.’ Undoubtedly. To kill was an abomination, and Harry, although he refused to believe it of himself, was a good man.

I blew out a breath and for a moment I couldn’t keep the pain out my voice. I remembered each death I had served. It was too many. ‘I’ve been in this business longer than you have,’ I said. ‘I know some of what you’re feeling.’

He didn’t answer. I hadn’t expected him to.

‘You feel like nothing is ever going to be right again,’ I said. Again, I fought to keep my voice steady. ‘You remember it perfectly, and it won’t leave you alone. You feel like you’re walking around with a sharp rock in your shoe. You feel stained.’ I could see the effect my words were having on him and I paused. _That’s right,_ I thought, _you’re not alone. Believe it, for once_.

‘I know what it’s like,’ I continued. ‘There isn’t anyway to make it disappear. But it gets better with time and distance.’ I studied him for a moment. There was one question that must be asked. ‘If you had to do it again, would you?’

‘Twice as hard,’ he said immediately, all uncertainty gone.

‘Then what you did was a necessity, Harry. It might be painful. It might haunt you. But at the end of the day so long as you did what you believed right, you’ll be able to live with yourself.’

‘Yeah?’ he asked, chewing on his lower lip.

‘I promise,’ I replied.

‘You don’t … think less of me? Knowing that I’m a murderer?’

I blinked. It wasn’t what Harry had said, but how he had said it: vulnerable and seeking reassurance. Harry had a habit, similar to many abused children, of refusing to show vulnerability, but Harry was trusting me with this.

‘It isn’t my place to judge what you’ve done.’ I said. _It is God’s_ , I finished mentally, although I had enough self-awareness not to say it out loud.

‘I regret that those lives were lost,’ I continued. ‘That their owners never found redemption. I worry for the pain that you’ve inflicted on yourself in retrospect. But I don’t for an instant think that you would choose to take a human life unless you had to.’

‘Seriously?’ he sounded incredulous and for a moment I felt true anger. True anger for those false judges who we had fought only today, those who would place themselves as the ultimate arbiters of good and evil, who would slaughter children without a second thought, and that had convinced my friend he was an evil man, despite all the evidence to the contrary.    

‘I trust you,’ I said, putting all the weight I could on the words. ‘I would never have left my family in your protection if I didn’t. You’re a decent man, Harry,’ I said. If only I could convince him of that fact.

The words seemed to have an effect though because some of the tension left his shoulders. ‘Good,’ he said. And then, the words rushed, he said, ‘I picked up one of the Blackened Denarii, Michael. Lasciel.’

My heart thundered and I made an effort not to show my emotions on my face. I had known about the coin for some time and had gone back and forth about whether to confront him about it. But I had stayed silent and my faith had paid off. Hope bloomed in my chest, I knew Harry to be a good man and he had not picked up the coin out of greed but a desire to protect my son.

I nodded, ‘I know.’

‘You what?’ said Harry, staring at me. I admit his expression was slightly humorous. I had just taken the wind out of his confession.

‘I know.’ I repeated.

‘You know. You _knew_?’ He sounded slightly accusatory and it occurred to me that, from his point of view, he had been worrying and avoiding his friends for nothing. Perhaps staying silent had not been the right course of action. There was no way to fix that now.

‘Yes. I was taking the trash around the house when Nicodemus’s car went by. I saw the whole thing. I saw you protect my youngest.’

Harry chewed his lip, ‘And … I mean, you aren’t going to slug me and drag me off to a private suite in the Asylum for Wayward Denarians?’

‘Don’t be ridiculous,’ I said. ‘Remember that the Knights of the Cross were not founded to destroy the Denarians. We were founded to save them from the Fallen. It is therefore my duty to help you in whatever way I can. I can help you discard the coin if that is what you wish to do. It’s best if you choose to do it yourself.’

‘I don’t need to discard it actually. I haven’t really taken the coin up. I buried it. Never used it.’

I had to admit I was surprised. I had underestimated Harry’s strength and spirit (and, perhaps, stubbornness). There were few who could truly resist the Fallen, especially Lasciel, the Seducer. And, true to form, Harry seemed to brush off the feat as one of little consequence.

‘No? That is good news then. Though it means that the Fallen’s shadow is still attempting to persuade you, I take it?’

Harry’s face twitched and I was reminded of the fact that Lasciel, or rather, her shadow, was no doubt listening to the entire conversation. Lovely.

‘Trying,’ said Harry.

‘Keep in mind that Lasciel is a deceiver,’ I said quietly. ‘One with thousands of years of practice. It knows people. It knows how to tell you lies you want to believe are true. But it exists for a single purpose – to corrupt the will and beliefs of mankind. Don’t ever forget that.’

He shuddered. ‘Yeah.’

‘May I ask what it’s told you?’ I paused. ‘No wait, let me guess. It’s appeared to you as an attractive young woman. She offers you knowledge, yes? The benefit of her experience.’

‘Yeah,’ he said, drawing out the word. ‘And Hellfire,’ I had to fight not to react to that. I didn’t know what, precisely, Hellfire was, but given the name and the destructive capabilities of Harry’s normal fire, it couldn’t be good. ‘Makes my spells hit harder when I need them to. I try not to use it much.’

Ideally he wouldn’t use it at all but given Lasciel was in his head he might sometimes literally not have a choice. It would be the best way to get him hooked, ‘Lasciel isn’t called the Temptress for nothing,’ I said. ‘She knows you. Knows what to offer you and how to offer it.’

‘Damn right she does,’ he said and he sounded … appreciative. ‘It scares me sometimes,’ he added. Well, at least he was showing the appropriate level of terror. Sometimes.

‘You’ve got to get rid of the coin,’ I urged.

‘Love to,’ he said. ‘How?’

‘Give up the coin of your own will. And set aside your power. If you do, Lasciel’s shadow will dwindle with it and waste away.’

‘What do you mean, set aside my power?’

‘Walk away from your magic,’ I said. ‘Forsake it. Forever.’

‘Fuck that.’

I winced and looked away. I should have known better. Harry’s sense of identity was tied to his magic in a way I didn’t understand. When he described it to me it wasn’t like a workman using tools, but as someone touching the forces of creation. I couldn’t take that from him, but I feared the consequences. I honestly couldn’t see any other way and I feared for my friend.

And I feared what would come should he fail. I was a Knight. I would do my Duty.

 

…

 

A/N – I mean Michael, I love you, but you really should’ve known better than to suggest Harry give up his magic, _seriously_. I guess he really did think it was the only option, I mean what’s the alternative? Turn the shadow? Pfft, only someone as stubborn as Harry could manage tha … oh, right.


	10. Scars

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> When escaping from the mind fog Harry has to help Murphy overcome some of the wounds Kravos inflicted. Murphy POV. Summer Knight.

Everyday with Harry Dresden just got weirder. I mean, we were running from fog. Supernatural mind fog, true, and it wasn’t like I couldn’t see its effects. Everyone around us was slow, sluggish and clearly had very little clue what was going on, but still, _we were running from fog_.

And I had to trust that Harry would get us out of this mess. There was nothing I could do against fog.

I hated being helpless more than anything else.

‘I’m going to put up a circle that should keep it off up,’ said Harry. ‘Don’t step out of it or let any part of you cross outside.’

‘Harry, it’s coming,’ I said, my voice high and tense. _Like he doesn’t already know that, you idiot_.

Harry had twisted open a couple of salt shakers and had that look on his face that meant he had a plan that would either work brilliantly or blow up spectacularly in our faces.

The mist touched the edge of the circle he’d created and … rolled away like there was an invisible wall. My knees felt a little weak. ‘Wow,’ I said quietly. ‘Is that like a force field or something?’

‘Only against magical energies,’ Harry said. ‘If someone comes along with a gun we’re in trouble.’

That was okay. Things with guns I could handle. Although being stuck in one position would be troublesome.

‘What do we do?’

Harry blew out a breath, his voice careful, ‘I think I can protect myself if I’m ready to do it,’ he said. ‘But I need to set up a charm on you.’

‘A what?’

‘Charm, short-term magic.’ Harry fumbled at his shirt and pulled out a fraying thread. ‘I need a hair.’

A little voice in my head chose that moment to remind of Dresden _himself_ telling me how much damage a practitioner could do with a bit of hair.

_Idiot. Dresden wasn’t going to go completely psycho now._

I yanked out a couple of hairs, held them out to him and hoped desperately he couldn’t see how afraid I was right now.

He probably could. The asshole.

‘Give me your left hand.’

I did. I tried to pretend it wasn’t shaking.

Kravos had looked exactly the same way, earnest and determined and straight at me but never quite in the eyes in exactly the same way Harry did, and he’d said, _I just need this one thing from you. Just one thing._

‘Murph. Karrin,’ said Harry. His voice was soft and he was still holding my hand, but not gripping it. ‘Remember what I said yesterday,’ he said, still in that slow, gentle voice, like we had all the time in the world to talk through my fears. ‘You’re hurt. But you’ll get through it. You’ll be okay.’

I squeezed my eyes shut, willing the tears that were gathering not to fall, ‘I’m scared,’ I admitted. ‘So scared I’m sick.’

‘You’ll get through it.’

‘What if I don’t?’ I said and I hated, _hated_ the weakness, the pain, the childish need for reassurance in my voice.

Harry squeezed my fingers. ‘Then I will personally make fun of everyday for the rest of your life,’ he said, completely seriously. ‘I will call you a sissy girl in front of everyone you know, tie frilly aprons on your car, and lurk in the parking lot at CPD and whistle and tell you to shake it baby. Every. Single. Day.’

I couldn’t help it. I let out a little hiccup of a laugh.

Trust Harry Dresden to know what I needed in the stupidest way possible.

Still, ‘You do realize I’m holding a gun, right?’

Harry didn’t quite grin, ‘You’re fine. Hold your hand still.’ I looked down and realised that my hand had mostly stopped shaking.

Sometimes he was just so punchable.

I kept my gun steady on the mist, although it was likely I wouldn’t actually see anything until the last minute. ‘What are you doing?’ I asked.

Knowledge. Best way to combat fear of the unknown is to make it known. Even if that known is scary.

‘Enchantment like that mist is invasive,’ he said. ‘It touches you, gets inside you. So I’m setting you up with a defence. Left side is the side that takes in energy. I’m going to block that mist’s spell from going into you. Tie a string around your finger so you won’t forget.’

Harry’s voice had taken on a faint lecturing tone, like he was reciting a lesson. His face held an expression of intense concentration. It was almost strange. He usually threw around what he called “kaboom magic” with an ease that seemed almost instinctual, until tired himself out, of course. It wasn’t that I’d gotten used to it, I don’t think I could even get used to another human holding that much power, but watching him then it struck me, suddenly, that he was _creating_ something.

Harry glanced at me and saw my expression. ‘I’ve never really seen you, you know. Do it. Before,’ I said, but that didn’t cover it.

‘It’s okay,’ he said. ‘I won’t hurt you. I know what I’m doing.’

I don’t know whether it’s my inbuilt cynicism but it seems to me that whenever Harry says he knows what he’s doing the universe decides to take that bet. I shot Harry a quick smile and he grinned back. I returned to looking out at the mist. It showed no sign of thinning.

‘ _Memoratum,’_ Harry murmured. ‘ _Defendre memorarius_ ’

I yanked my hand back, ‘Whoa.’ Something had shot up my arm. Like electricity but not electricity.

Magic. Harry’s magic. Warm and … defending me.

‘Murph. You okay?’

I looked at my hand, then at him. I couldn’t explain how but I _knew_ that Harry’s magic was nothing like Kravos’s magic. ‘Wow. Yeah,’ I said. Perhaps that what Harry meant when he said he could feel the presence of black magic. It felt sick and wrong and nothing like this.

Harry took his pentacle amulet out and wrapped it around his hand, ‘Okay, we’re pushing our luck enough. Let’s hope this works and get the hell out of here.’

‘Wait, you don’t know if it will work?’

‘It should work. It ought to. In theory.’

Yeah. Harry knew what he was doing. In theory. Somehow this felt like more familiar ground.

‘Great. Would it be better to stay here?’

‘Heh, that’s a joke, right?’

Right. Fear talking. Game face on. Kick ass. I nodded. ‘How will we know if it works?’

‘We step outside the circle and if we don’t drift into Lala Land we’ll know if it worked.’

I gripped my gun, ‘That’s what I love about working with you, Dresden. The certainty.’

And then Harry broke the circle and let the fog roll in. The fog that could crawl into our brains and turn us into nothing more than meat puppets. I braced myself, knowing it was useless, but whatever Harry had done held.

And then we went to kick some ass.


End file.
